Public Policy: The Essential Readings

Book Description

This collection of 46 key classic and contemporary readings explores the environment within which public policy is made and the actual policy-making process. KEY TOPICS: This book includes readings that are among the most frequently cited or that highlight the link between theory and practice particularly well. It groups readings into four major sections which parallel both the majority of policy texts and the way many courses are designed: the nature of public policy — including theories and models of public policy making, the making of policy — the sequential stages that policies pass through, the players — both institutional and non-institutional, policy making as a game — the rules, strategies, and culture of the policy game. Each section begins with an overview essay.

Customer Reviews:

A Decent Anthology........2003-01-18

As this is the first anthology of public policy writings I've read, I can't comment on the quality here as compared to other writings. What I can say (after reading about 80% of the essays) is that this is like most anthologies: thorough, varied, and very poorly organized.

The essays here range from everything from philosophy of public policy (Dahl's article) to the tidbits of implementation (Sabatier & Mazmanian's article); from the really well-written (Majone and Wildavsky) to real snoozers (Rubin). With all this variance, the one thing I didn't get is any conflict in views presented. I'm no expert, but I'm sure that public policy experts don't actually agree on as much as these contributors seem to. I can't help getting the feeling that the editors views are amply reflected in these pages.

The other complaint is lack of structure. In particular, the section on "The Players" is put after "Making Public Policy." In retrospect, this made much of the latter-mentioned section harder to understand. Of course, this is easily remedied. If you do buy this collection (and I would hesitatingly reccomend it) read section 3 before section 2.

Uneven - there is a better alternative.......2002-04-26

I agree with the previous reviewer. The anthology is good in principle. Too few students read the original texts. Too many are fed with more or less adequate second-hand versions of what different scholars are saying.

BUT:
- While this anthology contains many classics, there is also a lot of less influential, or totally outdated texts that you should not waste your time on
- A good anthology requires good synthesizing chapters to make it more than the sum of its parts. The introductory chapters in this one are too brief and not very thrilling.
- The texts are too short. You only get little snippets.
- Many texts feel outdated, while much of the current litterature is missing.

There is a MUCH better public policy anthology which meets all these requirements: Daniel C. McCool (1995) "Public Policy Theories, Models, and Concepts" Prentice Hall. I would recommend that book instead, no doubt. Better, longer, more relevant and up-to-date texts, and very good comments by the editor. Have a look at that book instead of this one!

A thorough, if uneven, reader.......2000-09-13

While selecting textbooks for a public policy theory course, I ran across this reader. It should serve well for a public policy course given a couple limitations. First, the chapters are heterogeneous and uneven. You will need to spend some time deciding what readings are worthwhile and how to organize the readings you wish to keep. Second, the readings will require explicit integration in to lectures and core textbooks. The articles are not very well integrated. In the end, I think this collection of essays will make an excellent resource for instructors who take the time to incorporate some of the excellent chapters. If you want to include original articles from political scientists in a policy course, this is a good place to turn.

Average customer rating:

great premise, poor execution
endymion spring while engaging lacks the richness of harry potter
best book
Great Book
This was great!

Endymion Spring
Matthew Skelton
Manufacturer: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385733801
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Book Description

"You've stumbled on to something much larger than you can possibly imagine."

In the dead of night, a cloaked figure drags a heavy box through snow-covered streets. The chest, covered in images of mythical beasts, can only be opened when the fangs of its serpent's-head clasp taste blood.

Centuries later, in an Oxford library, a boy touches a strange book and feels something pierce his finger. The volume is blank, wordless, but its paper has fine veins running through it and seems to quiver, as if it's alive. Words begin to appear on the page--words no one but the boy can see.

And so unfolds a timeless secret . . . .

Customer Reviews:

great premise, poor execution.......2007-07-07

The idea behind this story is right up my alley, but I was disappointed when I finished it. The story had so much promise, but it fell short with many avenues unexplored. Some of the words chosen felt like writing for writing's sake, rather than trying to paint the clearest picture possible for the reader. The characters were not consistent, so, to me, they were not very likable. Particularly the mom. She had no character development at all, and her role at the end felt contrived and unrealistic - which made me mad because it was difficult to read all the way to the end.

The author's intriguing historical note alleviated some of that, but only enough to go from one star to two. Much more time needed to be devoted to bring this story to it's true potential. It's a shame that didn't happen.

endymion spring while engaging lacks the richness of harry potter.......2007-06-27

Endymion spring is a interesting story regarding a secret lost book containing all answers to all questions. Two main characters emerge, Blake the modern day child who is searching for the book and Endymion a child living in the 1400's who has hidden it. There are of course terrible enemies for each child of the story, which each child has to overcome. It is able to bring both stories to a satisfactory ending but never gives you more than a hint of what the lost book contains. This gave me a little bit of a hollow feeling at the end, as if the book did not quite fulfill its full promise. Still it was otherwise an engaging read.

best book.......2007-06-24

I enjoyed Endymion Spring alot. Like Philip Pullman's series, it's based in Oxford. I'm a girl and I still enjoyed it. Boys and girls should read this book. Go into the past with Endymion Spring as he discovers the book, and go into the future as blake witnesses the book's power. The goes from swithes from old Germany to Oxford as present. Trust me you'll enjoy this book very much

Great Book .......2007-05-02

Endymion Spring is a great book with amazing descriptions by the author Matthew Skelton. There are some confusing parts but overall is good. I recommend this book for boys 12+.

This was great!.......2007-03-04

I loved this book! It has a unique feel to it as well as a great story line. The book keeps you quessing ever step of the way. The way in which the story laces itself together to make the whole story is briliant! I definately name this as one of my favorites!

Content Area Literacy: Strategic Thinking for Strategic Learning

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Content Area Literacy: Strategic Thinking for Strategic Learning
Anthony V. Manzo , Ula Casale Manzo , and Matthew M. Thomas
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 047115167X

Book Description

Help students read to learn, not just learn to read

The Fourth Edition of this well-respected text introduces teachers-to-be and practicing teachers to the reasons for and means of promoting basic and higher-order literacy across the disciplines. The authors discuss content area literacy in the context of promoting reading and thinking as an integrated part of specific subject instruction. Throughout, the text engages teachers in thinking critically, constructively, practically, and professionally about the art and science of teaching and literacy development.

Now updated and revised, this Fourth Edition features increased attention to the needs of ESL/ELL students, updated coverage on the role of technology in content area learning, and new material on emergent content area literacy.

The Qualitative Researcher's Companion: Classic and Contemporary Readings
Average customer rating:

A Good Overview

The Qualitative Researcher's Companion: Classic and Contemporary Readings
A. Michael Huberman
Manufacturer: Sage Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 076191191X

Book Description

There is no longer any question that qualitative inquiry is fundamental to the enterprise of social science research, with a broad reach and a history all its own. This book seeks to introduceâ€”to reintroduceâ€”readers to selections that provide a solid intellectual grounding in the area of qualitative research. Thoughtfully and painstakingly culled from over a thousand candidate articles by co-editors A. Michael Huberman and the late Matthew B. Miles (co-authors of the seminal Qualitative Data Analysis), The Qualitative Researcherâ€™s Companion examines the theoretical underpinnings, methodological perspectives, and empirical approaches that are crucial to the understanding and practice of qualitative inquiry. Incisive, provocative, and drawn from across the many disciplines that employ qualitative inquiry, The Qualitative Researcherâ€™s Companion is a key addition to the bookshelf of anyone involved in the research act.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Overview.......2004-06-28

Scholars interested in brushing up on analyzing qualitative date will benefit from the insights offered by Miles and Huberman. Those seeking to enter this field of inquiry will also be a primary audience for their offering. In this book they present a broad overview of the methody of analyzing data collected in qualitative research.

On the subject of presenting findings, they are to be commended for explaining the value of the use of a matrix. It is a means of clarifying data for academic audiences. Designing a matrix is an act of creativity.

In my opinion they go too far in arguing for the generalization of of results. They sound too much like quantitative researchers. Qualitative and quantitative inquirers have different objectives. There should be no reason to argue for similarities when these differences exist for good reason, i.e., the research questions are framed differently. Different results should be expected. Each method has its set of strenghts and weaknesses. That's why one method compliments the other. Generally speaking, however, this is a worthwhile book that explains what it seeks to explain in a comprehensive way.

English Passengers: A Novel
Average customer rating:

Intellectual epic, very good, unusual style, "Dickens" detail

The English Invade Paradise

Very Good Book

Excellent historical fiction

an adventure story, a morality tale, a cultural/historical novel

English Passengers: A Novel
Matthew Kneale
Manufacturer: Anchor
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 038549744X
Release Date: 2001-01-16

Amazon.com

Christopher Columbus was looking for a passage to India when he ran full-tilt boogie into the Americas. One of the narrators of Matthew Kneale's ambitious historical novel English Passengers has more modest aspirations: Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley wants only to smuggle a little tobacco, brandy, and French pornography from the Isle of Mann to a secluded beach in England. Yet somehow in the process, he and his crew end up weighing anchor for Australia. Worse, they're forced to carry three temperamental Englishmen bound for Tasmania on a mission to discover the exact location of the Garden of Eden. The year is 1857, and the study of geology is beginning to make serious inroads into areas of religious doctrine. When the Reverend Geoffrey Wilson runs across a scientific treatise that puts the age of Silurian limestone somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand years, he is scandalized: "This was despite the fact that the Bible tells, and with great clarity, that the earth was created a mere six thousand years ago." His many attempts to prove the Bible's accuracy lead, eventually, to a scientific expedition comprising himself, Timothy Renshaw, a dilettante botanist, and Dr. Thomas Potter.

Now jump back 30 years, to 1828, when a revolution of sorts is stirring on the island of Tasmania. Over the years, white settlers have been encroaching on aboriginal land and relations have deteriorated into violence. At the heart of the action is Peevay, a young half-breed abandoned by his aborigine mother, who had been kidnapped and raped by a white escaped convict. Now his vengeful mother is leading a war against the whites, and Peevay, desperate to win her love, has joined her. Chapters from the past narrated by Peevay and augmented by letters and dispatches from white settlers alternate with the sections told by Kewley, Wilson, Renshaw, and Potter. Eventually, of course, the two time lines intersect with momentous results.

War, mutiny, shipwreck, and not a little farce make English Passengers a gripping read, but it is Matthew Kneale's literary ventriloquism that renders it remarkable. In a novel with so many different points of view, the individuality of each voice stands out. There is, for instance, the mutinous Dr. Potter, whose descent into paranoia and egomania results in diary entries reminiscent of a 19th-century psychotic Bridget Jones: "Manxmen = treacherous even to v. last. Self heard Brew (lashed to mainmast as per usual) instructing helmsman to steer N.N.W. When self questioned he re. this he claiming we = carried into Bay of Biscay by difficult sea currents + must set course to avoid Breton Peninsular. He pointing to distant point of land to N.N.E. claiming this = Brittany. Self = doubtful." But perhaps the most compelling voice in English Passengers belongs to Peevay, who paints a vivid picture of aboriginal life in a foreign tongue he nonetheless makes his own:

When we sat so in the dark, after our eating, Tartoyen told us stories--secret stories that I will not say even now--about the moon and sun, and how everyone got made, from men and wallaby to seal and kangaroo rat and so. Also he told who was in those rocks and mountains and stars, and how they went there. Until, by and by, I could hear stories as we walked across the world, and divine how it got so, till I knew the world as if he was some family fellow of mine.

By the close of this epic tale, the world Peevay had known is gone forever and the lives of the Manx sailors and English passengers have been irrevocably changed. Based on real events in Tasmanian history, Matthew Kneale's novel delivers a home truth about Australia's brutal colonial past, even as it conveys the wonder and allure of the age of exploration. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

In 1857 when Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley and his band of rum smugglers from the Isle of Man have most of their contraband confiscated by British Customs, they are forced to put their ship up for charter. The only takers are two eccentric Englishmen who want to embark for the other side of the globe. The Reverend Geoffrey Wilson believes the Garden of Eden was on the island of Tasmania. His traveling partner, Dr. Thomas Potter, unbeknownst to Wilson, is developing a sinister thesis about the races of men.

Meanwhile, an aboriginal in Tasmania named Peevay recounts his people’s struggles against the invading British, a story that begins in 1824, moves into the present with approach of the English passengers in 1857, and extends into the future in 1870. These characters and many others come together in a storm of voices that vividly bring a past age to life.

Customer Reviews:

Intellectual epic, very good, unusual style, "Dickens" detail.......2007-07-26

I really enjoyed this book but not everyone will. It is not an easy "beach book." This is a thoughtful epic that is long and complex. The story is fascinating. It's told from many points of view -- at least 10 if I recall. The story always moves forward but from various viewpoints such as that of an Australian aborigine. It is handled superbly. I think this is sort of a "Berkeley" type book - I thoroughly enjoyed it, as did my UC Berkeley graduate son and even his wife who is new to the English language. Very different.

The English Invade Paradise.......2006-08-23

In reading this book, the Prime Directive in the Star Trek series came to mind. Star Fleet personnel were not to interfere with the civilizations they studied to prevent harm. This book demonstrates the value and need for such a policy.

In the early 19th Century, the British Empire was in full swing. In Tasmania, once known as Van Dieman's land, England had established penal colonies and other colonies for the intrepid. The fact that Tasmania was already occupied was not an issue, for the aborigines were seen as savages, in need of civilizing and Christ. The felons kidnapped and raped the women with impunity. When the aborigines fought back, the colonists, with better weapons and resources, eventually captured the majority, often through trickery, and placed them in a camp. That the aborigines slowly, but surely fell victim to European diseases for which they had no immunity was seen as a sign of their unfitness. The colonists tried to evangelize the aborigines, and at one point, in a cringe-inducing moment, gave the aborigines "Christian" names.

The English Passengers in the title may refer to the colonists on Tasmania, though, in actuality, they were not passing through Tasmania so much as taking over. No, the English Passengers are three Englishmen who board a Manx ship to Tasmania for the purpose of finding the Garden of Eden. They include a minister, rigid in his beliefs, who is fighting the emergence of evolutionary theories, a "scientist," whose theories on race are chilling, and a young, hapless man, whose family thinks this trip will make a man of him. The ship is manned by sailors from the Isle of Wight, who failed in an attempt to smuggle goods into England, and only reluctantly took the passengers on as a way to escape the sharp eyes of English custom inspectors. On Tasmania, Peevay, the son of an aborigine and the man who raped her, describes the tale of English treatment of aborigines and him.

The story utilizes numerous narrators, and the author does an excellent job of giving them their own distinctive voices. The story of Peevay is especially poignant, as we observe his betrayal by the English and the delusions of the English that they are actually helping the aborigines. The Manx sailors provide a great deal of comic relief. I highly recommend this book. It is an interesting read, and the story is compelling.

Very Good Book.......2006-08-13

This is one of the best and wittiest books I have read, dealing with "benign" colonialism. The British, in the name of "saving the natives" managed to eradicate the whole population of Tasmania. True comedy always has the element of the tragic in it as this book proves.

Excellent historical fiction.......2006-08-06

I recently read the English Passengers as part of my local book club. Not being a huge fan of historical fiction, and having heard that it was a difficult book to begin, I wasn't looking forward to reading it. However, once I began, I was quickly entranced and delighted by the story. Kneale has a quick, dry wit that permeates all the different story lines, which are told in many different voices and perspectives.

There are two main missives, one following the ship Sincerity, captained by Manx-men from the Isle of Mann, trying to surreptitiously smuggle some goods to make a profit, and their unlikely passengers who are off to find Eden in Tasmania.

The second follows a half-caste Tasmanian as he struggles to find his place in a world where neither the white men nor the aboriginals accept him. I found this part to be very disturbing and gripping, as it illustrates the near-extermination of the Tasmanian natives. The concept of benign (and intentional) malevolence is very clearly presented.

I found the ending to be very satisfying and not something I would have anticipated. In part sea yarn, historical fiction, and social commentary, I highly recommend this book.

an adventure story, a morality tale, a cultural/historical novel.......2006-05-23

What a marvelous book. It is an adventure story, a morality tale, a cultural/historical novel. It is informative and fun. In 1857, three Englishmen charter a ship to Tasmania, where one of them, a pastor, expects to find evidence of the Garden of Eden. The reader does not find it incredible that he might believe in his theory. The ship is crewed by "Manx", sailors from a town in the Isle of Man and their roguish captain, who are intent on making their fortune through smuggling. Their tale is wrapped into an account of Tasmanian history, focusing on the aborigines. The story is told in the voices of its many characters, most powerfully by a half/caste Tasmanian who witnesses the decline of his mother's people, while "enduring". The Tasmanians are destroyed by the English, mostly through the English germs. While some of the English were brutal, it is not active evil as much as indifference to others that Kneale finds. The plot has a remarkable number of twists, which come ever more quickly as the book nears its end. The beginning of the book may seem lightweight to some readers, but stick with it.

Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume 1

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Readings in the Western Humanities through the Renaissance

Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume 1
Roy Matthews , and Dewitt Platt
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0072556390

Book Description

An anthology for use with The Western Humanities, Fourth Edition, by Roy T. Matthews and F. DeWitt Platt, this Volume I covers literature from the Epic of Gilgamesh through The Prince. The readings are accompanied by extensive contextual headnotes.

Customer Reviews:

Readings in the Western Humanities through the Renaissance.......2004-01-13

This is the fifth edition of "Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume I: Beginnings Through the Renaissance," which complements the first volume of the fifth edition of the textbook "The Western Humanities" by Roy T. Matthews and F. Dewitt Platt, which covers ancient Mesopotamia through the Renaissance (with Volume II doing the Renaissance through the 20th century, leaving it up to professors and institutions to decide whether the Renaissance gets covered first semester or second). When I took history classes in school I always thought it would be nice to read some of the great works of literature and famous speeches from history, because those are primary documents representing the times. Now I find out that in Humanities you can combine history and literature and have been looking at textbooks for a two-semester Humanities course. What attracted me to the Matthews and Platt volumes were these supplemental reading texts (and the CDs with representative music).

In terms of the selections included in this first reading the strategy is clearly to cover the basic texts. If you are only going to do one Greek tragedy it should be "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles and that is what is here, as is the section on Aristotle's "Poetics" that talks about the key elements of tragedy. Instead of choosing between Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey," they provide selections from both. The book begins with the beginnings of Western literature, with selections from "The Code of Hammurabi" and "The Epic of Gilgamesh." The Romans are covered in a bit more depth than the ancient Greeks but the section on the World of Islam is comparable to that of Judaism and the Rise of Christianity, which is certainly relevant in these times. You will find selections from St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dantes's "Inferno," Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, Baldassare Castiglione, and Niccolo Machiavelli. The result is a solid coverage of the West's literary and philosophical heritage, from "Beowulf" to the "Song of Roland." Apparently some of changes were in response to the requests of reviewers and those additions noted in the preface are certainly welcome, even at the expense of "Lysistrata."

Matthews and Platt note that the most substantive change in these readings are the footnotes that provide annotations for identifying difficult proper names, place names, titles, terms, ideas, quotations, and allusions in each selection that are either vital to a work's meaning or useful to know. Having taken considerable pride in doing this for the collection of great speeches that I co-edited many years ago, I certainly applaud this effort (although half the fun of teaching is standing up in front of your students and explaining all about Tiresias the blind prophet of Thebes and how Dante organized the circles of Hell. Now all I have to do is get these classes on the schedule so I can actually use these books.

The Dante Club: A Novel
Average customer rating:

Worst Mystery Novel

This book reminds me of another...

Bog Down

Intellectual AND fun...

Thoroughly Pleasing Intellectual Treat

The Dante Club: A Novel
Matthew Pearl
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375505296
Release Date: 2003-02-04

Book Description

A New York Times Bestseller
Words can bleed.

In 1865 Boston, the literary geniuses of the Dante Club—poets and Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J. T. Fields—are finishing America’s first translation of The Divine Comedy and preparing to unveil Dante’s remarkable visions to the New World. The powerful Boston Brahmins at Harvard College are fighting to keep Dante in obscurity, believing that the infiltration of foreign superstitions into American minds will prove as corrupting as the immigrants arriving at Boston Harbor.

The members of the Dante Club fight to keep a sacred literary cause alive, but their plans fall apart when a series of murders erupts through Boston and Cambridge. Only this small group of scholars realizes that the gruesome killings are modeled on the descriptions of Hell’s punishments from Dante’s Inferno. With the lives of the Boston elite and Dante’s literary future in America at stake, the Dante Club members must find the killer before the authorities discover their secret.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and an outcast police officer named Nicholas Rey, the first black member of the Boston police department, must place their careers on the line to end the terror. Together, they discover that the source of the murders lies closer to home than they ever could have imagined.

The Dante Club is a magnificent blend of fact and fiction, a brilliantly realized paean to Dante’s continued grip on our imagination, and a captivating thriller that will surprise readers from beginning to end.

Download Description

Words can bleed.

In 1865 Boston, the literary geniuses of the Dante Club -- poets and Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J. T. Fields -- are finishing America's first translation of The Divine Comedy and preparing to unveil Dante's remarkable visions to the New World. The powerful Boston Brahmins at Harvard College are fighting to keep Dante in obscurity, believing that the infiltration of foreign superstitions into American minds will prove as corrupting as the immigrants arriving at Boston Harbor.

The members of the Dante Club fight to keep a sacred literary cause alive, but their plans fall apart when a series of murders erupts through Boston and Cambridge. Only this small group of scholars realizes that the gruesome killings are modeled on the descriptions of Hell's punishments from Dante's Inferno. With the lives of the Boston elite and Dante's literary future in America at stake, the Dante Club members must find the killer before the authorities discover their secret.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and an outcast police officer named Nicholas Rey, the first black member of the Boston police department, must place their careers on the line to end the terror. Together, they discover that the source of the murders lies closer to home than they ever could have imagined.

Customer Reviews:

Worst Mystery Novel.......2007-08-09

The worst novel I have read in some 60 years of reading! The main characters are flat cardboard cutouts, other characters are introduced without much relevance and are left stranded in the story. What could have been an interesting and exciting plot is drawn out, too wordy, and boring. The only reason I finished the book is that I was on a lengthy long hall flight between several airports and had nothing better to read except in-flight magazines.

One gets the impressing that the author is a pretentious high school student who needs to write as many words as possible in order to get a passing grade. The fact that the author is a Harvard law school graduate leads one to be thankful that he has decided not to practice law, for his inability to reconcile time, circumstances and events will save a lot of litigants from loosing their case in court. Maybe the publisher is paying the author by the number of words, for I see no other reason for the tedious repetition and asinine descriptions.

While the concept of basing a crime on Dante's description of hell is original, a better writer could make an exciting and thrilling mystery instead of a boring read.

This book reminds me of another..........2007-08-09

I couldn't shake the very basic similarities between this and GHOST STORY by P. Straub, unfortunately.

Bog Down.......2007-07-18

I got very bogged down in this book. Too many names being thrown around and the prose itself was overwrought and overly dramatic. Sometimes felt that Pearl was getting a bit carried away with his own genius. Great idea, but not brilliantly executed.

Intellectual AND fun..........2007-06-23

This marvelous book is a superlative example of numerous genres: historical fiction and mystery being two examples. While the premise of engaging famous historical figures in a mystery is intriguing, Pearl never allows this element to drive the narrative. His characterizations of Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell are so brilliant, the reader forgets that they are icons of literary history, and views them as intense and vivacious fictional characters.
This is not beach-reading, but instead an intellectual journey through Boston of the 1860s. Pearl is subtle but firm when he integrates statements about racial tension, academic politics, and even the neglect of soldiers suffering from the horrors of war.
While built on an intellectual premise, one needs not be familiar with Dante to enjoy this book. The author manages to introduce those unfamiliar with Dante to the thrill of the Inferno, without belittling those who may already know the great work. This is rarely accomplished with finesse, but Pearl manages to do it with literary aplomb.

Thoroughly Pleasing Intellectual Treat.......2007-06-15

"The Dante Club" by Matthew Pearl is an astonishing first novel. This book is set in Boston just after the close of the Civil War. It combines literary and social history with a fictional serial murder plot, so it an ambitious and unique mix of genres.

The story takes place in 1865. The famous poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is in the process of making the first-ever American translation of Dante's "Divine Comedy." He is aided in this endeavor by a group of close friends and fellow Dante scholars including Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell. As the scholars work together assisting Longfellow in refining his translation, a series of murders occur in the immediate area among people they know. Eventually, the scholars begin to realize that these murders appear to be copies of specific punishments taken directly from Dante's "Inferno." They realize that Dante's work is barely known in America. If there is a murderer mimicking Dante, obviously they would all be targets of suspicion. At first shocked and frightened, the scholars eventually realize that they must aid in the investigation to help prevent the next gruesome crime.

I thoroughly loved this book. I was transfixed by its gorgeous and vivid reconstruction of mid-19th century Boston life, culture, customs, and language. I was delighted with the way the author was able to bring to life three giants of American literature. Finally, I was astonished with the depth, breadth, and scope of the work. It was obvious that Pearl had thoroughly researched his subject and had a great deal to convey to the reader. I found the book very educational. I learned a great deal including: the structure, theme, and significance of Dante's "Divine Comedy;" the importance of poetry to all classes of people in the mid-19th-century America; the after-effects of the Civil War on a major northern city; the existence of rampant mid-19th-century class and racial conflicts; and the existence of internal political conflicts at what was then the Harvard Corporation concerning important issues of academic freedom, censorship, and freedom of the press, to name but a few.

Reading this book was a pure intellectual delight--a treat for the mind. I would not be honest if I did not note that the book does have some serious flaws, but overall, its brilliance outshines and overwhelms. Be forewarned: chief among the flaws is that the book is very difficult to get into. It took me many hours; I almost gave up, finding it all too gruesome and plodding. But finally, I was trapped--no, thoroughly enchanted, completely wrapped up in the suspense, and head-over-heels in love with the unequaled opportunity to become intimately acquainted with Longfellow, Holmes, and Lowell.

Don't read this book if you are an avid mystery reader looking for another good historical who-done-it--you'll probably be disappointed. Do read this book if you enjoy historical fiction with a thorough dose of thought-provoking intellectual fodder, especially if you have a fondness for the beauty of great 19th-century prose and dialogue.

Average customer rating:

A must for bibliophiles
Read the first chapter last!
At Last one Book about Books with a Clear Script...
Not the book I'd hoped for, sadly
Unquiet indeed!

Library: An Unquiet History
Matthew Battles
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

History of Books | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Libraries in the Ancient World
The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World
The Book on the Bookshelf
A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books
A Passion for Books : A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books

ASIN: 0393325644

Book Description

"Splendidly articulate, informative and provoking....A book to be savored and gone back to."—Baltimore Sun

On the survival and destruction of knowledge, from Alexandria to the Internet. Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved but also shaped, inspired, and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles, a rare books librarian and a gifted narrator, takes us on a spirited foray from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library, from socialist reading rooms and rural home libraries to the Information Age.

He explores how libraries are built and how they are destroyed, from the decay of the great Alexandrian library to scroll burnings in ancient China to the destruction of Aztec books by the Spanish—and in our own time, the burning of libraries in Europe and Bosnia. Encyclopedic in its breadth and novelistic in its telling, this volume will occupy a treasured place on the bookshelf next to Baker's Double Fold, Basbanes's A Gentle Madness, Manguel's A History of Reading, and Winchester's The Professor and the Madman.

Customer Reviews:

A must for bibliophiles.......2006-04-23

Mr Battles's "Library" is not a study for scholars but for general readers who will be charmed by its old-fashioned character, by the elegant prose of its sentences and paragraphs and by its human portrait of libraries. The recording and transmission of knowledge from generation to generation is one of the greatest achievements of mankind and libraries play a crucial role in this process. And it is certainly disquieting to learn about the destruction of millions of books by the Nazis in the Louvain library or the siege of the Boston National and University Library but then Mr Battles reassures the reader by focussing on the building of outstanding collections and on the central role of libraries in every society. Who would have thought that the books in the infamous "model Jewish city" at the Theresienstadt concentration camp during the Final Solution "cast the ghetto reader into bibliopsychological relief"?
An excellent study which will delight all those who appreciate books. And the next time we enter a library, we should keep in mind that "readers read books; librarians read readers"!

Read the first chapter last!.......2005-11-16

It is an entertaining and educational book. I was very surprised when I learned that, in ancient times, any book brought to Alexandria was confiscated to be duplicated. I guess since the beginning of time knowledge is assumed to be power.

One complaint is that the first chapter does not belong to the book. It is an incoherent collage of trivia. One should read it at the end. It is unfortunate that the beginning chapter of the book induces such distaste that I almost gave up on the book. Surprisingly, from chapter two on, it picks up and becomes an excellent read.

At Last one Book about Books with a Clear Script... .......2004-11-06

Battle has written a book about libraries -so, about books put toguether and creating a new, chemical reaction- that has a non very common feature in this class of books: direction. Most of the books about books or related issues tends to be just catalogues of anecdotes, information, curiosities and sometimes even trivia. That's not bad. It can be very entertainning. But Battle has done more than that. With an excellent sense of style and elegance, -but also with a very hidden sense of humor titilating almost out of sight here and there- always sugestive and often very penetrating, he offer a clear vision not just of histories about libraries, but the History about relationships between the Library as institution and the ideas about it that have been developped in different phases of cultural history. The multifacetic substance of the library is presented, then, as never before and in no way just in the stratosphere of theory and speculation, but taking the reader to specific places and libraries, people and events, tragedies and personalities, bookmen and burning books-men.
Great reading.

Not the book I'd hoped for, sadly.......2004-10-05

Being a library science graduate student, I was eager to read this book, thinking it would be an inspiring trip through the ages regarding my chosen field, so I was somewhat disappointed by what I found to be fairly dry reading. The history aspect is indeed there and the text is clearly well-researched, but the inspiration is lacking, unfortunately.

The tone of the author is very subdued and rather droning, which makes for somewhat dull reading in my opinion; I had hoped for a more proactive voice but Battles just doesn't seem very excited about his subject and thus the book sometimes comes across like an intelligent but uninspired history textbook. However, it would serve as a decent reference book for students of this field; I myself was able to use some of its material as a resource in a paper for one of my library science classes.

Ironically, I wish I'd checked this one out of the library instead of purchasing it.

Unquiet indeed!.......2004-07-23

Unquiet indeed! This little book touches upon everything from the fires of Alexandria to the book burnings of the Nazis, bargains with devils to the ghosts of literature, the purpose of libraries of the past, the present and what they may be in the future. However, as Battles states from the start, a comprehensive history of libraries throughout the ages could fill countless volumes; instead he offers a fascinating and varied history. From ancient scrolls to the Dewey decimal system Battles flits through the history of books and libraries with ease and grace.

Battles views the librarian as a modern Prometheus who is overwrought with pity and whose boon `ultimately inspires another emotion, hubris, in the hears of human beings', to him, the flaws of the Titan are mirrored in the librarian who harbours `pity for the low station of the reader, and hubris for the possibilities the library offers for the reformation of culture and society' (pg 120). Lofty ideals, but the stories of Thomas Bentley William Temple, Johnathan Swift, Melvil Dewey and countless others whose passion for books and their distribution have helped shape how we think of literature and libraries today.

An easy and entertaining read, and for the uninitiated, library and book-specific terminology is inserted inconspicuously into the body of the text. Highly recommended for those interested in the subject matter.

Books and Beyond: New Ways to Reach Readers
Average customer rating:

For teachers

Books and Beyond: New Ways to Reach Readers
Michael F. Opitz , Michael P. Ford , and Matthew D. Zbaracki
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Reading | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Professional Development | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Reading Zone: HOW TO HELP KIDS BECOME SKILLED, PASSIONATE, HABITUAL, CRITICAL READERS

The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades

Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum: How to Build Bridges in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies

Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices

A Sea of Faces: The Importance of Knowing Your Students

ASIN: 0325007438

Book Description

Try counting how many different types of texts you read each day. Now count how few your students read in class. Michael Opitz, Michael Ford, and Matthew Zbaracki argue that if we want children to meet our literacy expectations, we must do more than supplement basal reading or anthologies with a few books here and there. What kids need to grow into lifelong readers is true variety in a print-rich classroom, teaching that values their out-of-school literacy as well as their in-school literacy, and an emphasis on what works, instead of what's mandated.

Books and Beyond is a book of big ideas and smart, useful strategies. Opitz, Ford, and Zbaracki suggest ways to model literate behaviors so that students come to understand that reading is not reserved for the classroom but permeates everything adults do. They describe step by step how to use ten distinct types of outside-world text in your reading program, including a wide range of genres and media. They offer specific advice and instructional alternatives for each kind of text and answer key instructional questions about it such as:

Why use it?
How can it be used in the classroom?
How does it work with different age groups?
What are examples that are appropriate for students?
What websites are good for researching it?

Books and Beyond has everything you need to create a reading program that truly offers students choice alongside a strong sense of how and why we use reading in our everyday lives. And with tips for working around the obstacles of basals, suggestions for reforming the attitudes that have left many real-world texts undervalued, ignored, or even banned from classroom use, as well as methods for using alternative texts to increase student interest and motivation, it's got enough savvy to help you make the transition to a balanced reading program without making waves.

If you or your students struggle with banal basal programs, or if you'd simply like to open children's eyes to a wider world of genres, texts, and literature, read Books and Beyond. You'll find a whole new world of reading instruction at your fingertips.

Customer Reviews:

For teachers.......2007-10-05

Very good examples of how to incorporate a variety of reading materials into any classroom!

Neal-Schuman Guide to Recommended Children's Books and Media for Use With Every Elementary Subject

Average customer rating:

Neal-Schuman Guide to Recommended Children's Books and Media for Use With Every Elementary Subject
Kathryn I. Matthew , and Joy L. Lowe
Manufacturer: Neal-Schuman Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Children's Literature Guides | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers
Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 155570431X

Book Description

An alarming trend in reading instruction has spread throughout our educational system: the omission of literature. More and more teachers are focusing on skills-based instruction without going the crucial extra mile to include high-quality reading content, although studies show that children's literacy development requires frequent encounters with engaging creative expression throughout the school day. Now, finding the perfect material just got a lot simpler.

This exhaustive resource, the first of its kind, recommends hundreds of books, videos, CD-ROMs, and other media that librarians, kids, and teachers will love. The recommended titles are listed underneath established national curriculum standards in each major subject area. Bring science, art, health, math, music, language arts, sports, and social studies more dynamically alive in your classroom with the most esteemed and enjoyable books and media available through 2001. The authors also present innumerable ways to include solid reading, writing, discussion, and interaction into more conventional class work on every school subject. Go that extra mile with Lowe and Matthew and make your teaching extraordinary.

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